7 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Eat

Have you ever been sitting in class, watching the teacher write on the chalkboard, when you were overwhelmed by the sudden urge to grab the chalk out of his hands and eat it? Well there are plenty of people out there who eat chalk all the time, so don’t knock it until you try it. For those interested in expanding their culinary boundaries outside of the culinary realm, we’ve rounded up seven non-food things that you didn’t know you could eat.

We should begin by saying that the items mentioned here aren’t things that you can idly munch on as you while away the hours. Aside from the fact that there’s little to no nutritional value in any of them, eating them in large quantities won’t kill you, but they will most likely give you quite a stomachache.

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There’s also a big difference between “non-toxic” and “edible,”: Non-toxic means that it can’t really be digested even though it’s more or less safe to eat; edible means that your body will process it as it would any normal food and it won’t cause you any harm. The items on our list are all non-toxic in that they won’t kill you or cause you any lasting gastrointestinal damage. That said, we wouldn’t advise actually eating any of this stuff, but you can.

As you go through life, looking at things like paper napkins and wondering if it would be worth it to grab a few to eat for dessert later, there are a couple things to keep in mind: One, does it contain any harmful chemicals? Two, is it made out of plastic, cellulose, or other non-digestible materials? (That’s not necessarily a bad thing.) Three, is it sharp? And four, most importantly, is this a smart thing to do?

So if you should decide that eating some Elmer’s glue is a prudent move, more power to you. Just don’t eat the whole bottle.